“This close-into-London course looks a bit like it was built by your doddering old uncle, and it makes me wonder whether Mr. Abercromby might have been a distant ancestor of mine, so much did I enjoy playing it for the first time. For years, the privately-held club had fallen into disrepair and was seldom played, but a change of ownership a few years back has opened the doors to the public – only to discover that it’s a bit of a dangerous routing when too many people are playing too many blind shots at once! There are certainly some odd twists and turns, such as the tee shot at the long 12th where you can try to hook it down a stair-stepped hill in hopes that you will get close enough to get back up the other side with your second. But there are also some great holes like the 4th and 13th and 15th and 16th, stronger tests of golf than any architect would dare build today. Indeed, the stoutness of this rough and tumble course’s challenge (and remembering it was built for play with hickory clubs) highlights what a bunch of sissies we have become in the modern age. Only a powerful figure like Abercromby had the guts to build such a survival test; pity too many owners/architects pander to mediocrity rather than stretching the envelope as Abercromby did here.”

The Addington received a score of 7 out of 10 from Tom Doak and two of his co-authors.